


Elle Masters

by machinations



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, i want danielle to be happy, vlad isn't a complete jerk au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-01-24 23:22:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21346459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machinations/pseuds/machinations
Summary: Danielle was made three months ago, and Vlad is satisfied to finally have a half-ghost child. But she needs to be able to go to school and be a normal kid.Vlad needs a chance to get back at Danny for ruining his other plans...So why not kill two birds with one stone
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	1. Meeting

Danielle grabbed her backpack and slung it over one shoulder. It was going to be a long day…she wasn’t sure if she was ready yet. She slammed the car door a little too loudly, causing her dad to wince, but he smiled at her anyway. 

It has been 3 long months at home alone while her father was at work. He didn’t let anyone in the house, but a few ghosts he paid to keep the house up to par. They never wanted to talk to her though. And now she was finally getting to go to a school with real people. She was excited, but at the same time, she wanted to abort and go back home. It was too late now though. 

Her dad already done all the work necessary so that she could go, and she was sure he’d be less than happy that she wanted to throw that away. So, she’d just have to suck it up, but she couldn’t bring herself to move toward the school.

“Got everything?” He finally spoke up.

“Yeah, I think so.” Danielle rubbed the back of her head. Everyone was going to be a lot older than her. She was sure why her dad insisted she go to a high school, instead of a school where everyone would be not her age…but at least her size.

As they walked toward the school, Danielle felt her stomach dropping even more. “What if no one likes me?” 

Her dad paused with the door handle in his hand. “Everyone is going to love you. I’ll even introduce you to Daniel and his friends.”

“I really don’t think they’ll like me.” She said, thinking back to everything her dad had told her about them.

“Nonsense,” he replied happily, yanking open the door.

“Well, I don’t think I’ll like them.”

“Why is that?”

Danielle shrugged. She probably would, but she wouldn’t be happy about it. 

After a minute, Danielle finally walked into the building, followed by her dad. They took a turn into a small office. Danielle stood in front of the desk beside her father. He and the lady were talking about something, but she wasn’t listening. She was thinking about meeting Daniel. What she would say to him. How she would act.

“Danielle.” Her dad said again forcefully. 

“Huh?” She said snapping out of her thoughts. “Yeah.”

“Very good,” he said. He turned back to the lady behind the desk and grabbed the red folder that was now sitting on the desk. “Thank you for your help.” 

He shut the door behind them quietly and then turned to face her. “Were you not listening in there?”

“I,” she started. Her face grew red and she couldn’t look him in the eyes. “No.”

“Well, let’s try to listen better in class, shall we?”

“Yes, sir,” Danielle said quietly. 

They started down the hall towards the classrooms. Danielle thought she should probably be doing this by herself, but she knew bringing it up wouldn’t change anything, so she continued following slightly behind him. 

Her dad came to a stop midway down the hallway, almost causing Danielle to bump into him. 

“Aw, Daniel.” He started saying. “So good to see you.”

There was a pause. Then an annoyed voice spoke up. “What are you doing here, Vlad?”

“Charming as always, I see…” Vlad stepped aside, exposing Danielle to the three teens. “I am just here dropping my daughter, Danielle, off.”

She felt panicked, staring at them and them staring back at her. After a moment, she tugged down her lower eyelids and stuck her tongue out at them. Her father seemed a little put off but quickly shook it off.

“Wonderful, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, right…” Daniel spoke up again.

“Since when do you have a daughter?” Samantha spat out.

“Believe it or not, Samantha, I do have a life. And you are not entitled to all of it.” He reached over and patted Danielle’s shoulder. “Anyways…would mind taking her around today?”

Daniel crossed his arms. “Yeah, actually. I think I do mind.” 

“It won’t be out of your way,” her dad smiled slyly, “because I think you’ll find you have the same schedule.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Daniel crossed his arms and studied Danielle a moment. “What’s she doing in a high school anyway? She’s like 10.”

Danielle was about to object, but her father beat her to it. 

“She’s twelve, Daniel. And she skipped a couple of grades. Now.” He turned to Danielle and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Be good. I’ll pick you up after school.”

Her dad began to walk away, but she grabbed at his sleeve. “They don’t like me,” she whispered.

He brushed her hand off. “You’ll be fine. Goodbye, sweetheart.” And he was gone.

Danielle frowned as she watched him walk off. She slowly turned back to the three. They had huddled together, facing away from her.

“Hey!” She walked over to them and grabbed on to Daniel’s shirt. “If you’re going to talk about me at least wait til I’m gone.”

They all turned around to stare down at her. 

“So, what’s your deal?” Tucker finally asked. “Do you have…?”

“What?” Danielle blinked a few times, before realizing what he was asking. Ghost powers. “Oh…yeah.”

“You don’t look anything like Vlad,” Samantha pointed out.

“I look like my mother,” she offered with a shrug.

“And where is she?”

Danielle crossed her arms, pouting a little. “Dead.”

That seemed to shut them up a moment, and she didn’t let them recover before continuing. “So, are you going to show me around or are you going to keep hounding me about my dead mother? I—who is that?” She asked, pointing down the hall at a girl who was walking toward them.

They all turned to look.

“That’s Paulina,” Tucker spoke up. 

“She’s beautiful,” Danielle and Daniel said at the same time. They locked eyes for a moment, which was quickly broken by Danielle. Neither of them said anything. Danielle could feel all their eyes on her. 

Thankfully, Paulina finally broke the tension, when she had reached them. “Was that Vlad Masters…the billionaire?” 

The question was directed to Danielle, but Samantha spoke up before Danielle could gather herself. “Is there something you needed?” 

She sounded disgusted by Paulina being there. Danielle couldn’t quite figure out why Daniel would be friends with someone so mean.

“I don’t think I was talking to you,” Paulina said, dismissively. She turned back to Danielle. “Is he your dad?”

“Y-yeah.”

“That’s cool.” Paulina moved a little closer. “Do you want to come to hang with my group instead of these losers?”

Danielle stared up at her in amazement. “I—” 

“I don’t think so,” Samantha interrupted. She moved in between Danielle and Paulina. “Vlad personally asked us to watch out for her today. So...move along.” 

Why did she even care? Danielle thought. Just a little while ago she was interrogating her. Danielle stepped out from behind Sam, throwing an irritated look over her shoulder. “Yes, I want to go with you.”


	2. not cool enough for a 12 yr old

“Okay…” Tucker nodded as Paulina and Danielle walked off. “Okay…we just got ditched by a twelve-year-old.”

“I think we have bigger problems than that, Tucker.” 

“What do you mean?” Danny asked, taking his eyes off Paulina for a second.

“Danny, come on. You can’t be this stupid.” Sam crossed her arms. “Doesn’t she remind you of anyone? She stopped everything when she saw Paulina and did you see the way she looked at her? You know…kind of like how you do.”

“Me?” Danny huffed a little. “You can’t be serious. I’d never ditch you guys like that.”

Sam cocked her head to the side with an annoyed look. “You can’t be serious.”

“Okay! Okay…fine. Maybe I would…But…” He stopped a moment. “Wait, what are you trying to say?”

“She doesn’t look anything like Vlad. But she does look and act exactly like you.”

“So, what like a…a clone?”

“Well…yeah. Think about it. Vlad would have the technology and motivation.” Sam paused a moment, looking between the two boys. Neither of them said anything. They were still processing. “Anyways…we need to go get her back from Paulina.”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed. “No one comes in and steals the girl I’ve been crushing on.”

“That was definitely not the point, dude,” Tucker said, shaking his head.

“She could be dangerous, Danny.”

“Oh, yeah…good point.” 

Danny finished up at his locker and they all walked to first period together. Down the hall, Danny saw Danielle, Paulina, and Star chatting. Danielle made eye contact with Danny for a moment and flashed him a devious grin.

“Oh my god…”

“Danny,” Sam snapped. She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him inside the classroom. “We can talk to her when Paulina is out of the picture.”

“Fine…”

They took their usual seats in the class. Danny put his head down on the desk. He was exhausted from fighting ghosts all last night. He was expecting Vlad to do something when he had moved to Amity Park, but this? This seemed creepy even for him. He should’ve stuck with the cat.

Danny glanced up when he heard Paulina talking. They walked over to where Paulina always sits. She gestures for Danielle to take the seat next to her. He knew he shouldn’t be staring, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Danielle. The more he looked the more he could see the resemblance. This was going to be a long day…


	3. maybe they aren't so bad

Danielle was excited that Paulina seemed to like her. She was so amazing. Danielle could listen to her talk all day, which was good because so far, she hadn’t been expected to really talk. She didn’t mind. She wasn’t allowed to talk too much at home either. And she was sure Paulina was just excited.

The class started soon after they took their seats. The teacher, Mr. Lancer, made sure to point her out to the rest of the class as the new student. It made her really uncomfortable because everyone took a second to turn and look at her. 

Danielle just smiled until they all stopped looking and Mr. Lancer went back to teaching. It was hard to stay focused on what he was saying. She knew she needed to pay attention, but there was so much going on and Daniel kept glancing back at her. She made sure to pretend like she hadn’t noticed.  
The period went by very slowly. She was relieved when a bell rung, and people started packing up. She closed her notebook that she had been doodling in and looked over to Paulina to see where they’d go next.

Paulina didn’t seem to be paying her any attention. Danielle followed when Paulina had started to leave the classroom but was stopped short by Samantha.

“She’s not going to the same class.”

“So what?” Danielle huffed. “She’ll help find the next one.”

Samantha rolled her eyes. “Really? Then where’d she go?”

Danielle looked back toward the door. Paulina hadn’t stopped when she did. Danielle tried to brush it off. “She just didn’t notice. She’ll come back.”

Samantha’s face softened a bit. What was that? Why was she looking at her like that? “Come on…we’ll help.” 

“I don’t need your help,” she spat. It came out a little harsher than she intended, but she didn’t try to correct herself, before walking out of the room by herself.

Danielle pulled out the folder with her schedule in it. Room 205. She looked back at the room she had just left. 112. Daniel and his friends were still standing there, watching her, so she quickly picked a direction and left.

The room numbers were getting higher, so she must be going in the right direction. But then she reached the end of the hallway. There was another smaller hallway to her left, so she went down that way. It led into another hallway similar to the first hallway. But now the numbers were in the 220’s.

She stamped her foot down in frustration. 

“Need help?” Daniel’s voice came from behind her. “Look…we’re sorry for being…you know…”

“Big meanies?” Danielle supplied.

“Yeah…Listen…just…hang with us. We’ll look out for you.” The bell rang. Daniel cursed. “Come on. Let’s go before I get in more trouble.”

She muttered a “thanks” as Daniel lead her down the hallway to their next class.

“Late again, Mr. Fenton?” The teacher said as he walked in. Dang…she knew she had to do something. He was late because he stopped to help her and now it was her turn. Danielle peaked out from behind him.

“He would’ve been on time, Miss, but he came looking for me because I got lost,” she offered. She hoped it would get him out of trouble. 

“Ah, Ms. Master.” she said, “Very well…come take your seats.”

And Danielle had to sit through yet another class she couldn’t focus on. She was ready to go home already. She wasn’t sure how she was expected to do this five days a week. The day wasn’t even halfway through and she was exhausted!

After the class, Daniel made sure she was following, before heading to the next class. Danielle was thankful not to have been left. But she still found it hard to believe that Paulina would’ve ditched her on purpose. But then again…maybe she didn’t have all the facts about Paulina. Samantha seemed really against Danielle going with her this morning…maybe she was acting in her best interest…Danielle felt a ping of guilt in her chest. She’d have to apologize to her later. But for now, she’d focus on making amends with Daniel.

“Daniel?” She asked as they walked down the hall. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say to him. Sorry for leaving you for a pretty girl? It seemed weird to be direct about it. Maybe she should act as if nothing had happened.

“Danny,” he corrected.

“What?” She slowed to a stop in the hallway. He stopped as well but seemed a little confused why. Probably worried about being late again…

“You can just call me Danny.”

“Isn’t Daniel your name though?”

“Well, yeah…technically.” He paused, studying her for a moment. “Most people call me Danny though…you know…like a nickname.”

“Nick…name…?” She repeated slowly. 

“Yeah, so, like…” Danny motioned for her to keep walking with him. She hoped she hadn’t made them late again. “My name is Daniel…but my nickname is Danny. It’s kind of a shorter version of my name. And Sam’s real name is Samantha, but she’ll kill you if you call her Samantha.”

Danielle nodded, taking a moment to allow this to settle. “Can I have one?”

Danny chuckled a moment. “Yeah, if you want one. What do you want it to be?”

“Well, I dunno…what’s a shorter version of Danielle?”

He considered this a moment before responding. “Elle, maybe?”

They stopped outside of a classroom. Danielle assumed it was their next class. She wasn’t sure how much longer they had before they had to go in, but Danny didn’t seem worried about it, so she figured they had a minute.

“El-lee,” she tested out. “Yeah okay.”


	4. sleep? i dunno about sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah yes...it's been like 6 months...hey  
i edited the first three chapters so they are a little different  
this chapter has not been edited. it is subject to change

Danielle pulled the car door open, grinning widely at her father. “I take it things went well?” He asked her as she got in.

“Yes, sir,” she said excitedly. “Well, not at first, but Danny was really helpful.”

“Wonderful…” They pulled out of the carpool lane and started home. “And what did you learn today?”

Danielle froze for a minute, before finding something more interesting to stare at out the window. Come on, she thought, just any little piece of information would work. But she was drawing a blank. She spent most of the day zoned out, if she was being honest. She did learn some interesting things about Sam, Tucker, and Danny though.

“A year on Venus is 225 Earth days.” Oh no. Not a space fact, dumby.

“That’s strange…because I don’t recall space being part of your science curriculum this year. There was a long silence. “Danielle?”

She turned to him with her best pouty face. It was one of her dad’s weaknesses and by god, she would exploit it for everything it was worth. “I’ll try better tomorrow. I promise.”

“Danielle—" He started before looking over at her. He huffed as soon as he saw the pitful face she was making. “I suppose there is nothing that can be done about that now…But I am going to have you watch some more of those videos.”

“Daaad,” Danielle whined. “I’ve already watched the videos.”

“Clearly not enough of them, if you still don’t know how to act in a classroom…” 

Danielle groaned. She pushed her forehead against the car window. Three months of nothing but instructional videos was already bad enough. Honestly, she didn’t know why he couldn’t have just programmed that information in like he did with all the other stuff! But no! She had to learn for herself apparently.

“I just wasn’t ready for the real thing,” she huffed, “but now that I know what it’s really like I can do it. Besides. I have to read to catch up to where the class is in this book.” Danielle reached into her backpack and pulled out the novel Mr. Lancer had given her. “And. I already have math to do by tomorrow? I don’t get why I have to do more work at home. It’s like school minus the fun parts.”

“It’s just how school works, Danielle,” her father said a little annoyed with her. She hated that tone in his voice. 

“It’s dumb.” She crossed her arms with another huff as they turned into the long driveway. “I want to go hang out with Danny. He said they were going to…something called the Nasty Burger?”

“We’ll see, but homework first.”

They usually spent their evenings together, but her dad insisted she do her homework in her room because he still had some work to do. It was a little annoying, but it happens. He’s a busy man. 

Danielle sat down at the desk she mostly used for drawing and pulled out the math homework. It was pretty easy. Luckily, she already knew most of this so it didn’t matter that she didn’t pay attention to the teacher after all. She filed that point away for tomorrow if she failed to pay attention again.

The math homework didn’t take long to complete. The novel was another story. It was nothing like the space books she liked to read. Or any of the other books for that matter. This one was dull and uninviting. She only got a couple of pages in before giving up.

The video games were calling to her, after all. And she did do SOME of the work. Surely her dad wouldn’t mind if she took a small break. She had gotten really good at video games the past few months. Danielle figured she would be even better if her dad didn’t put restrictions on them! 

But he didn’t like her doing it for more than a few hours a day or “it would rot her brain.” And she didn’t want a rotted brain, so she complied with the dumb rule. 

Danielle plopped down in her squishy bean bag chair and turned the tv on. What to play though…she had several games going at the moment. Most of them were action games, but she settled on the calmer one. The more adventurous one.

She obviously lost track of time, because before she knew it. Her dad was knocking on her door to get her for dinner. As fast as she could she switched the game off and called him in. Danielle gave him her most convincing and innocent smile she could.

He looked a little skeptical, but he didn’t mention it, so they went down to dinner together. Her dad was the best cook. Danielle always enjoyed eating what he came up with for dinner. And she loved the time they got to talk together uninterrupted by his work.

After dinner things got a little boring. She wasn’t allowed to use the tv or the computer. Apparently, it affected how people sleep. So she complied with the rule. No matter how boring a rule it was. After dinner she had to get a shower. It was a pain and she wasn’t even that dirty. Danielle did not like having to do that. But she hated the next part even worse.   
Bedtime. It was a struggle between her and her dad every night. There was really no reason to go to bed so early. And she was never tired by the time it rolled around, so why should she have to.  
Danielle would try to sleep for her father’s sake. But it never worked out.

“Please do try to go to sleep tonight…I don’t want to see you walking around at midnight tonight, got it?” 

“Got it.” She agreed, knowing she probably would end up doing it anyways.

“Goodnight, Danielle.” He leaned down to give her a kiss on the forehead, before shutting off the light and leaving her alone with her thoughts. 

She closed her eyes for a long time, but Danielle just could not get to sleep. It was going to be another long night.


End file.
